Things in life happen the way they happen. And sometimes -- or is it frequently? -- they refuse to fit the exact specifications and format you had in mind.
So, you shrug your shoulders, or do whatever it is that Muslims do as per their latest Fatwas, the Halal thing you know, and say: Well, that is life!
I know it is life. And you are not entirely wrong in blaming everything on life and its travails -- I mean its trials and tribulations, and its ups and downs, and its labors and challenges.
For, that is what the expression "travails" means in English, which of course we stole from French. Not you and I, but the folks who spoke English way before us.
The French actually lament that half the English language is French -- and broken French at that.
So, when things don't seem to work, and you say, "That Is Life," you are absolutely in the ballpark.
But if you stop to think, there is more there than meets the eye. There is Allah the Al-Hayy, al-Qayyoom -- the one who is ever living, the one who never dies -- Hayyun Laa Yamoot-- and Allah the one who does not need anything or anyone to sustain him but who sustains everything and keeps everything going -- and makes everything happen.
So, next time around, when things don't go exactly as planned, how much more right you would be if you said:
Well, that is Allah,
And it is all his Will,
And it is his Doing!
And I submit.
And I happily accept what Allah did,
And what Allah decided for me,
And how Allah disposed of my situation and my need,
And what Allah made happen in my life!
And you immediately go to the Hadith Sharif and say:
Radiytu Billahi Rabban,
wa Bil Islami Deenan,
wa Bi Muhammadin Nabiyya!
The Hadith says that gives you an IOU on Allah that you can cash in on Day of Judgment.
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